Some tidbits!

So Monday turned out to be a day for me to stretch myself and work on the puzzle Susan gave me for my BD!  I haven't worked on a puzzle in 50 years!  Well, maybe with the grand babies but that doesn't count!  Here is the picture of the puzzle.

And this was my progress as of Monday evening.  I had to stop working on it because I couldn't get enough light to see the difference in some of the piece colors!

Tuesday, Marcia and I took off for the Villages for some shopping, walking and of course lunch.  It was a beautiful day so we sat outside and had Salmon on spinach with strawberries and feta cheese. It was delicious!!  Nope, no pics!  Too busy yaking and eating and drinking...only one glass of wine!  HA

I did work on the puzzle after I took the dogs or a walk when I got home so I'm now about 90% finished with the puzzle.  I will finish it today!  Then I'm returning it to Susan for her to put together.  It will be the gift that keeps on giving!

Tuesday evening my grand daughter and son both sent me a text and pictures of them at the Red Wing Hockey game.  Amber bought her dad two tickets to the game for a Christmas present and her dad took her as a thank you!  They both love hockey and the Tigers!  HA

I just love those two!!!  Amber is so sweet and thinks of everyone all the time.  And of course Darrin is the same way.  He called and left me a message the other day that he was just thinking of me and wanted to say "hi"!  💕💕

And just another link to share!  I love these felted vessels Mary Stori has created!  I think they are so cool!!!  I'm stealing some of her pics just to entice you to check them out here!  They do make great gifts for friends, family or even yourself!!  Now there's an idea!

This is cool!!! Wool felted basket -  mono printed - 6" x 6" x 3.5" deep - $25

X's & O - Wet felted, Mother of pearl ring -  3" w x 2.5" h - $15

Green/Orange bowl - wet felted - 6" w x 3.5 h" - $39

The Re Do Queen's at it again

Before I talk about my playtime with creating collagraph designs and prints..have to say CONGRATS to my son (& his buddies)! They were in a 6 Hour Adventure Race this past weekend and the email recap of the race is great! It's one I'll print out and keep..as far as results, here's what Darrin wrote: "Our Team JEEP took the Top Spot to finish 1st Place Over All and only 5 Teams cleared the entire course out of the 56 Teams. We fought hard all day long and work together like we have for the past 11-Years “As a TEAM” and finish together “As a TEAM.”

I'm always proud of our kids and the effort they put into whatever they do. Congrats, Darrin!!!! Great job as always! Now take care of your poison ivy and most likely lost toenails!
Now, on to my collagraph design above. This is a technique by Laura Kemshall that I tried about a week or so ago and posted on it here. I wanted to try it again using Etching Inks this time. I drew an apple shape (never said I could draw!) then proceeded to fill in areas with either masking tape or clear packing tape. Then rubbed the Etching Inks onto the entire piece, scraping off excess.


Here are some of my printed efforts.














These are fun to make, even if I can't draw! My thought is to 'press' some note cards. Oh, one addition to the process, it helps if you have a pasta machine to press the prints through. I don't and usea a rolling pin instead! It does work and you get exercise in your upper arms, which is a good to help that 'bat wings' we ladies get after a certain age!
Now on to my continuing reign as the ReDo Queen! I've been working on my Art of the Kitchen piece and had fused the entire piece but....I noticed after my weaving some of the fabric was fraying from all the handling (I used WU instead of Misty Fuse!). Also, the yellow chalk lines, which are needed to line up the weaves, won't come off! My white chalk lines come off and usually the yellow is removed easily as well...but not this time!
Also, if you look closely under the words, Kiss, you can see the the lines between the black and white fabric.

So, to make a long story/post shorter, I'm redoing the entire piece. I did start on it a few days ago and hope to get it ready to quilt by this weekend. I'm going to keep the 1st one and finish it just to hang in our house. Heck, I'll hang it far enough away that hopefully no one will notice it and if they do, they shouldn't get that close!

Weather beautiful again with slight breeze and windows able to be open at night! Bob's Dr.'s appointment is today so we'll see if we're going to just shoot him and what!